Wadleigh family in front of their house in Sanbornton, New Hampshire in about 1891. Left to right: John Wadleigh, Fred Wadleigh, Odin Wadleigh, Oscar Wadleigh, Charlotte Wadleigh, Henry Emery, Helen Wadleigh, John Wadleigh, Sarah Wadleigh Emery, Inez Wadleigh, Abbie Wadleigh.

Take a moment and read through my new genealogy blog devoted to my ancestors.

My name is Ryan Wadleigh and I live in Seattle, Washington. This website is the product of over 15 years of my genealogical efforts, as well as the countless amount of research that has been done by those in the past and those who have collaborated with me and helped me in my pursuits. I could not have been so successful in my research had it not been for the invaluable assistance of so many people.

It is my goal that this website will be useful to many people. I think that relatives and family members with little or no interest in genealogy will enjoy some of the photos and short family histories. My documentation and sources should also be useful to fellow genealogists. I must stress that the information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate or free of errors and my research itself or my reasoning might be flawed. Please use caution when taking information from this site. This is a work in progress, and I am continually adding information. If you have any ideas or information to add, please do not hesitate to e-mail me (ryanwadleigh@yahoo.com).

At 33, I am younger than most that pursue genealogy as a hobby (or obsession). I have always had an interest in history, yet I can trace my fascination with genealogy to a point in my childhood when I visited the wax museum in Victoria, BC and saw representations of Henry VIII and his wives (you can ask about my chain of reasoning, but that's a story in and of itself). Basically, I believe our ancestors lived fascinating and difficult lives that are taken for granted by current generations. I find it a shame that now they are dead and hardly anyone cares. With my research, I hope to bring some life to these fascinating people. If you can help, please do!

By and large, my ancestors were mostly Northwestern European. Based on my own research, I know that I am mostly English, German, and Scottish. The rest of my known ancestry is comprised of Danish, Dutch, Welsh, French, Swedish, Irish, and Swiss individuals. My family history also has legends of possible Native American and Moroccan ancestors.

I had recently had my DNA tested (autosomal DNA testing) through three different companies (AncestryDNA, 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA), to see if DNA could be used to provide any clues to enhance or prove/disprove my research. The process was educational for me, as I learned that using DNA to predict ethnic origins is a fairly inexact science. Because of that, the three different tests provided very different results. Overall though, all three agree that I am mostly northwestern European in general, and specifically mostly British. All three tests also show DNA from eastern Europe, which is news to me. From there though, they differ considerably. Different tests show trace results in: southern Europe/Mediterranean, East Asia (Siberia), Middle East (Caucasus and Turkey), Africa, South America and Oceania.

I talk about these DNA tests in more detail in my blog post, DNA Research, in which I specifically discuss how the DNA research had been used to potentially fill in a hole in my family tree, of possible Cherokee ancestors.